Flash-Based Storage System Adoption Is on the Rise in Enterprises,
According to IDC

August 14, 2014 08:36 AM Eastern Daylight Time

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Flash-based storage continues to move from being an expensive niche
technology targeted at a few workloads to a more mainstream technology.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC),
the broader availability of products, a growing level of familiarity
with the benefits of solid state technologies, and declining prices are
all adding to the momentum behind flash-based storage.

“However, we anticipate that the increasing
availability of flash-based products across a broader range of use
cases, combined with improved vendor messaging and falling component
prices, will mitigate the biggest concerns to enabling even broader
adoption of flash in the future.”

To gain end-user insights into how flash-based storage is being adopted,
IDC conducted a survey of more than 1,000 storage administrators across
the globe as part of its biannual Storage User Demand Study (SUDS). This
study provides essential details on current and future deployments of
storage systems as well as more forward-looking opinions of end users
about emerging technologies or market developments.

"There are still plenty of end users who believe they do not have the
workload demands or budgetary appetite for flash-based storage systems,"
says Natalya
Yezhkova, Research Director, Storage
Systems at IDC. "However, we anticipate that the increasing
availability of flash-based products across a broader range of use
cases, combined with improved vendor messaging and falling component
prices, will mitigate the biggest concerns to enabling even broader
adoption of flash in the future."

The pace of adoption of flash-based storage solutions, backed by
numerous offerings from suppliers of enterprise storage systems ranging
from start-ups to the tier 1 vendors, is ample proof of a tremendous
interest in this technology from end users. However, a cohort of end
users is still being held back by the high cost of flash compared with
HDD-based storage solutions. In some cases, when the price comparisons
are coupled with the assessment of benefits of flash for particular
types of data, these concerns are justified. However, in other cases,
these concerns are driven by lack of suitable mechanisms that would
allow end users to estimate the impact of flash on the performance of
their storage infrastructure and long-term total cost of operation (TCO)
implications.

"To overcome the concerns of these users, vendors and their channel
partners need to not only keep the focus on the performance benefits of
flash, but they also need to expand their messaging to include the
secondary economic benefits it can provide as it is deployed in higher
capacities," said Jeff
Janukowicz, Research Director, Solid
State Drive and Enabling Technologies.

Discussed in greater detail in the recently published IDC study, Storage
User Demand Study, 2013 — Fall Edition: Rising Adoption of Flash Storage
(Doc #250106), the survey reveals commonalities and differences in the
pace of flash storage adoption by end users from different company sizes
and/or from different regions. While flash storage has been shipped by a
variety of storage system suppliers for several years, end user interest
in the technology is just starting to see real growth.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of
market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information
technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC
helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment
community to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and
business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global,
regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities
and trends in over 110 countries. In 2014, IDC celebrates its 50th
anniversary of providing strategic insights to help clients achieve
their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's
leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn
more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.
Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC.